


Betelgeuse

by Widow_Spyder



Category: Dr. STONE (Anime), Dr. STONE (Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Confessions, Fluff, Fluffy Ending, Getting Together, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining, Outer Space, Romantic Fluff, sengen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:07:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26146903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Widow_Spyder/pseuds/Widow_Spyder
Summary: Day 67 on the space station and Senku thinks he might've done the one thing he thought was impossible for him to do. Somehow over the many days of staying in a cramped space station with four other people, he's managed to 'fall' for one of them, and it's definitely their fault.For the Prompt:Hiya! could you write the five generals as astronauts in the space station (some shenanigans i guess), and Gen'd gets homesick (while seeing the earth alone) so Senku comfort him and they end with a rutin of watching together the earth while they start to knows each other in a more personal way until they fall for each other and Senku is the one who confesses first. Thanks! and I love your writing
Relationships: Asagiri Gen/Ishigami Senkuu
Comments: 10
Kudos: 162





	Betelgeuse

For the first three days in space, the only thing you could hear was Ryusui and Chrome's exaggerated cheering, Ukyo's exasperated chuckling, Senku's groans, and Gen's 'follow along' clapping. It isn't until they get a ping from mission control to calm down and start working do they actually start to get things done. 

Space, Day 4. A day meant to be spent sorting through all their personal items, putting away the extra food boxes, and securing anything that shouldn't be floating around without gravity. Instead, two inhabitants are fighting over the last mouthful of a liquid cinnamon roll packet, while another talks to his butler on the space cam, and the other lounging back with headphones in. 

It's a simple task to tug the headphones out of Gen's ears, earning him a splutter of surprise and then whining annoyance as well as push Ryusui aside, say goodbye to Francois, and cut the space cam. The other two sort themselves out well enough, with the ex-military easily getting the upper hand on Chrome and shoving the last air-borne glob into his mouth. 

Senku rolled his eyes and continued to move things out of the way to make space in the hallway when a light outside the window distracted him. The sunrise. Or at least, one of out of the 16 they see every day...

A small dot of light slowly rising and growing over the blue hue of the dark earth as they floated by, watching from one of the most unique places out of their world. 

"Has this filled your desires, Senku?" Ryusui asked, nudging him on the shoulder with his usual bright smile. 

Senku rolled his eyes, cracking his neck. "Yeah, yeah, it's a nice view, go back to sorting." 

"How quick-" Gen squeaked, as Senku pushed past him. 

Chrome laughed, patting Gen on the head. "Leave it, it's just like him." 

"It's honestly a bit lonely, isn't it?" Ukyo said, still looking out the window. 

"With us here, together?" Chrome pressed himself against the window before turning back and smiling. "How could it be?"

"I guess you're right." Ukyo smiled, gracefully dodging a random packet of ramen floating around.

"Of course, he is!" Ryusui's loud voice echoed through the whole station. "Come! We must toast!"

"With what? All we have is water and juice." Senku grumbled as everyone tried to push through the small corridor, leaving Gen to float after them. 

_Lonely huh?_ Gen shook his head and followed after them, effectively pushing all those thoughts to the back of his mind to deal with later. Right now, there was a toast to be made. He could analyze those thoughts in the coming days.

——————

Of course, it all comes to a head at the most cliche time. When all the lights are out and everyone is asleep, do the thoughts that he'd been ignoring this whole time start coming together in his head. They've only been in space for five earth days, and he's already got that hollow feeling in his chest like he's missing something. Staring at the earth in the dark doesn't help either. It almost makes him feel worse as the hollowness in his chest turns to longing. He misses something of comfort down there, which is stupid. He's their mentalist. He's supposed to be the mentally stable one of the group, not the one that longs for his home, hundreds of miles away.

"What're you doing up, mentalist?" A familiar voice echoes through the hall, revealing a mop of leak hair floating towards him. 

"Ah, did I wake you?" Gen smiled, from his perch at the large window, scooting back, so Senku has room opposite of him to sit. "Sorry about that."

Senku held up his hand before running it through his hair. "Relax, I was already up." Senku said, turning his attention to the window and their planet just below them. 

"It's bigger than I thought." Gen lamented, touching the transparent wall that separated them from the vacuum of space carefully like it'd break under his fingers. 

Senku snorted softly. "The earth? It's actually pretty small in retrospect to other stars and planets." 

"Don't start with science stuff now, Senku-chan, it's too early." Gen whined, despite the smile creeping up his lips. His fingers still touched the glass, and after a minute of silence, the smile slipped off Gen's face, making Senku frown at the obvious emotions circling through Gen's head. 

"What's gotten into you?" Senku asked, adjusting himself against the wall and crossing his arms, giving Gen his full attention. 

Gen shook his head. "Nothing, just assimilating is all."

"To gravity? I'd have hoped our space training had assimilated you plenty." Senku flicked a stray cup away as if to prove his point, making Gen giggle. And wasn't that a pleasant sound? 

"You really have no sentiments do you Senku-chan?"

"For what? It's the planet we live on." Senku laughed as well. 

"That's true, but think of the emotional aspect of it! We really are so small compared to the universe." Gen said, waving his hands in the earth's general direction, and moving to float right in front with his face pressed against the acrylic plastic. 

"The universe is literally the largest thing we can comprehend." Senku scooted closer to Gen as well, making Gen turn his head towards him. 

"I'd give you the ant to a boot analogy, but that doesn't seem fitting."

"It doesn't fit at all." Senku chuckled. 

"Exactly, so let's look at the stars some more, okay, Senku-chan?" Gen tucked his hands behind his head and leaned back so he could let gravity hold him up. Senku did the same, letting silence wash over them again, dismayed when Gen's melancholy expression never fully lifted off his face. 

After a few minutes, Senku spoke up again, tired of the sad look on his crewmate's expression. "Why're you really up, mentalist?" 

"I told you, I'm just assimilating." Gen shrugged, still staring at the earth with longing in his gaze. _Oh, now it makes sense,_ Senku thought. 

"You miss it, then?" Senku asked. "The earth." 

"How can I miss it when it's right there?" Gen mumbled, vaguely gesturing to the planet below. 

"So it's your home you miss? You're homesick." Senku concluded, his heart skipping a beat when Gen suddenly started laughing. 

"Don't try out the mentalist act, Senku-chan, it's not your thing." Gen cooed, recovering from laughing so hard while wiping fake tears from his eyes. 

Senku shrugged with a smile. "Science is a lot better anyway."

"I resent that!" Gen scowled, trying to keep a straight face as Senku laughed. 

"Please, by all means, mentalist, try, and 'wow' me." Senku raised a challenging eyebrow, making Gen elbow him. 

So he does. They spend almost the entire night going back and forth, moving from topic to topic until Ukyo finally gets up and chastises them for staying awake, and they go to bed. The longing, Gen notes, as he maneuvers himself into his sleeping bag, is remarkably gone. He feels warm inside rather than hollow, and as he falls asleep that night, he thinks he could get used to his and Senku's late-night space talks.

——————

Another sleepless night, another calculation to solve. That was Senku's new motto for the past week. On day 27, three weeks after their arrival, he has slipped back into his regular sleepless nights as if he were still on earth working away at his equation board with energy drinks stacked and ready. Except there are no energy drinks now and he's exhausted yet still can't find sleep. So he calculates and thinks and draws blueprints for inventions he wants to make back on earth.

"Ah, hello, Senku-chan." Gen's voice startled him from behind. 

Senku tried not to let it show how tired he was that he missed Gen getting up. "Mentalist."

"Call me curious, but why are you not in your sleeping bag?" Gen asked, leaning against the table, and looking over the papers Senku was writing on. 

Senku gathered them up before Gen could really read them and place them in a pile. "Could ask you the same thing." 

"You weren't in your sleeping bag, which made me concerned that you're going to be wasting our designated sleeping time by doing science." Gen stated with a shrug, before squinting his eyes and obviously taking note of the bags under Senku's eyes. 

"It's not wasting when it's information that could save our lives." 

"Are we in danger?" Gen asked, suddenly completely serious. Senku didn't answer, just looked down at his calculations, almost guiltily. "Senku-chan?"

"No, it's base calculations." Senku mumbled, almost too quiet to hear. 

Gen pursed an eyebrow. "So, stuff you could do during our waking hours."

"Be better to do them now." Senku claimed, despite fighting the yawn that tried to escape his mouth. "Since I'm here anyway."

"You're exhausted, Senku-chan. It would be better when you did these with a clear head." Gen moved to pull the papers and pens away from Senku, who dodged and floated back a foot. "Come on." Gen scolded. 

Senku groaned. "Not until I have these done, mentalist."

"Fine! At least take a break and look at the stars with me." Gen pleaded, his eyes twinkling in the low light. "Please?" Gen whispered, looking sad and vulnerable, and wasn't that a kick to the chest? Even though Senku knew he was faking it to get him away from his work. He couldn't say no. 

"Ten minutes." Senku grumbled, letting himself float towards the window and sitting down with a scowl. 

Gen smiled, sitting next to him so that they were shoulder to shoulder. "That's all I'm asking for." After a few minutes of silence, or at least to the point where Gen was sure, Senku's annoyance had died down; he spoke up. "You know there's a myth I'm reading about right now, about the 'chained lady' constellation."

"Andromeda." Senku murmured from beside him. 

"Yes, that's her." Gen nodded, letting his voice take a softer tone as continued. "Anyway, it's said that Cassiopeia, her mother, always boasted that she was the world's most beautiful woman. Poseidon had apparently taken offense to that because he believed the most beautiful things in the world were the sea nymphs he created. In retaliation, he created a sea monster called Cetus. Despite this, Cassiopeia wouldn't recant her statements, so she was forced to sacrifice Andromeda, who was chained to a rock in the sea for the terrifying Cetus to have. When Cetus was just upon Andromeda, Perseus flew in out of nowhere and unveiled Medusa's severed head and turned the monster to stone. He then freed Andromeda and made her his wife and queen. The end." Gen finished, letting out a small sigh in relief as he shifted his shoulder to cushion Senku's head a bit more. The scientist had let his head tilt to the side as he fell asleep during the story, and Gen didn't want to move and disturb him from the rest he needed. 

They could stay here a little longer.

——————

Day 67 on the space station and Senku thinks he might've done the one thing he thought was impossible for him to do. Somehow over the many days of staying in a cramped space station with four other people, he's managed to 'fall' for one of them, and it's definitely their fault. There are no insomnia fueled nights anymore or deep long aches for the one place they can't return to for the moment. However, there are stories every night in the dim light of their surroundings, smiles, and muffled laughter as they try to keep quiet and not wake the others, little touches here and there that tingle and make something spark under the skin. Touches that only leave you wanting more. More shoulder and head pats, more brushes of fingers as they pass in the corridor, more shoulders to rest his head on when the night stories lull him to sleep. He wants more.

Except, all those thoughts suddenly disappear as he floats towards the big window, meeting Gen like he does every night only to find at least a dozen playing cards floating around him as well as little dried up flowers. It's- it's a nice sight. Gen, in his element, added to zero gravity, is making things churn in Senku's stomach, like fluttering wings. 

"Good evening, Senku-chan." Gen smiled at him as he got closer. 

"Mentalist." Senku nodded in greeting, as he sat down opposite of Gen like the first time. "Working on something?" Senku asked, plucking a stray card out of the air and handing it back to Gen. 

"Just practicing my skills." Gen responded. "And I believe it's your turn for a story tonight."

Senku shook his head, pointing at Gen with a fond huff. "No, I did one last night, it's your turn."

"But my hands are full! How could I tell a story when I'm so distracted." Gen pouted as he batted his eyelashes. 

Senku crossed his arms. "If you're distracted, then you won't listen to the story."

"No, no, I'm listening very intently, Senku-chan." Gen promised, smirking as Senku grumbled. "Also that wasn't a 'no.'" 

"Fine, dumb mentalist, I'll tell the story." Senku huffed, going silent for a moment in thought before his expression smoothed out, and he started. "There's an old story surrounding the myth of the seven sisters constellation, also known as the 'The Pleiades.' The hunter, Orion, was obsessed with catching them and spent a dozen years doing it until Zeus turned them all into stars. Orion was forever doomed to chase the Pleiades but never catch them." Senku looked from the window back towards Gen, who had his full attention as promised. He continued. "There are also many more stars in that cluster than just seven. According to astronomers, they believe the stars that are dimmer used to shine a lot brighter." 

"Maybe they lost hope after Zeus cursed them." Gen suggested a softer look on his face as he began to understand what Senku's intentions were. 

Senku hummed in thought. "Perhaps if there were someone who could finally catch one, they'd be a lot brighter."

"Is that even possible, Senku-chan?" Gen asked, scooting a bit closer to Senku, letting himself sit just an inch away. 

"It is, though, it'd be more of a sign that the star is turning into a supernova." Senku responded, twirling one of his bangs in his fingers as he tried to avoid Gen's knowing smile directed right at him. "Like Betelgeuse."

Gen titled his head to the side. "The star that fluctuates between getting brighter and dimmer." 

"Yeah." Senku nodded, smiling back at Gen. "I imagine it would also be satisfying for the catcher to have finally caught the one thing he was obsessed with catching." He said, making Gen laugh as he stole one of Senku's hands out of the air and squeezed tight. 

"Well, what do you think, Senku-chan." Gen pulled himself closer to Senku until their faces were centimeters away, so close that Senku's bangs had to float over and around his face. "Have you caught me?"

Senku smirked. "Based on recent evidence? I'd say I very well have, mentalist." Senku let their foreheads crash together as Gen giggled in what could only be exasperated delight. 

"Good~"

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I'm on time this time yay! Thank you to io-smalander on Tumblr for this request! I hope it's to your liking! 
> 
> Next prompt fic will be posted on: **9/3/2020** So stay tuned for that!
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for reading this far! <3


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